Book review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Based on the reviews at Goodreads I was expecting this book to be nothing short of perfect. Imagine my surprise when I was 20% into this and still not liking it. Usually I tend to agree on opinions and ratings but this was an exception. I’m still baffled as to why it received such high ratings. For me, it was a complete mess.

I guess the main contributing factor to my disliking this book was the writing style. I know it has been praised but it just left me disconnected to the characters and the overall story. I found myself nearly skipping over paragraphs and rolling my eyes at depictions time and time again. Speaking of the story, again, having read many young adult books, “Daughter of Smoke and Bone” follows the same formula. There was nothing new to be found in between the pages. Not even the “twist” towards the end came as a surprise.

Let’s get back to the characters – again, I didn’t feel any kind of connection to any of them. The most interesting and enjoyable character was Karou’s ex-boyfriend Kazimir and he wasn’t really featured that much. Karou’s and Akiva’s “romance” felt too contrived. Even after the big reveal towards the end the relationship seemed very much off. Not to mention that these chapters after the reveal were pretty much the most uninteresting and boring ones.

You know you’re not enjoying a book when you start your Kindle and think “OK, I have to get this book finished, so that I can start something new”. It’s sad, but Goodreads, I guess this is one where we don’t agree on. But it doesn’t matter, since I seem to be in the minority with my low rating and I’m sure many people will devour this book and its sequel(s). I just know I won’t be one of them.